Who works from home and what do you do ?
Discussion
slikk said:
Believe me, motivation needs to be very high otherwise there are just too many distractions.
the temptation to watch a bit of TV, walk the dog, few laps of GT4, put the washing on etc is always there and very difficult to overcome if you're not 100% committed to the job in hand. I am a system administrator, programmer and when times are hard, web developer. I also run my own site which is a hobby, but takes up a lot of time, and I need to get it bringing in some money soonish. But yes, motivation is always a factor, but the lifestyle is superb. To be able to say "OK, today is just not going well, I'm going to go and watch women & drink coffee in the sun" (with my girlfriend, of course ;-) is worth every minute of having to push yourself to do what needs doing but is frightfully boring... Added bonus is that my girlfriend also works from home, so we spend a lot of time together too. She's a candle-maker and singer. Gigs are currently hard to come by 
Ciao
Zak
Ciao
Zak
I look after the sales and marketing side of a US company. I'm the only one outside of California. 
Working from home does give you great flexibility in organising your life and provide a highly productive environment, to mention nothing of the time gained through not commuting. However you do need to be disciplined and self-motivated and its no good if you feel happier with the company of people around you (somehow corridor/watercooler chats with the local cat population aren't quite the same
). Top tips if you do ever do it:
- clearly deliniate 'work space' from 'home space' - I'd recommend seperate phone lines as well.
- try and establish a clear work routine for the day.
- if possible ensure you have some kind of contact with people/the real world during the day; it'll preserve your sanity.
- make sure you have PH access: a valuable resource and community to keep you company (and ensure your productivity is reduced to conventional office-worker levels
).
jeremyc said:
Working from home does give you great flexibility in organising your life and provide a highly productive environment, to mention nothing of the time gained through not commuting. However you do need to be disciplined and self-motivated and its no good if you feel happier with the company of people around you (somehow corridor/watercooler chats with the local cat population aren't quite the same
Top tips if you do ever do it:
- clearly deliniate 'work space' from 'home space' - I'd recommend seperate phone lines as well.
- try and establish a clear work routine for the day.
- if possible ensure you have some kind of contact with people/the real world during the day; it'll preserve your sanity.
- make sure you have PH access: a valuable resource and community to keep you company (and ensure your productivity is reduced to conventional office-worker levels
It also helps if you work part time for the local specialist sports car manufacturer and develop a nifty side line in conning errant northern gimps by forcing them to cough up or face imminent death by terror at the hands of Fangio Coppolini and some rather prickly, brambled hedges.
If you are going to work from home make sure that whatever you do, you absolutely love doing it otherwise you wont do it as everything else is infinitely more interesting. You also need to find some way of having some human contact otherwise you will find yourself a) talking to yourself, which is fine as long as you can control it on the rare occassions you enter the real world. b) joining more web forums than a kiddie fiddler just so you have someone form of human interaction. c) engaging in long conversations with people you don't know (shop assistants, parking wardens, delivery persons) everytime you venture out just because it has become exciting to hear another voice respond to yours d)buying loads of stuff over the internet and wondering whether this is because you cruise the internet a lot and thus see things you want to buy or you are actually just making sure there are more delivery persons to talk to. If like me you live in a fairly rural area you will be amazed next time you go back into a city just how loud it is and agressive the people are but be really, really excited by hearing so many voices outside your own head.
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